Where There Is No Vision The People PerishBy Dr. Tom Malone (1915–2007)

"Where there is no vision, the
people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. " —Proverbs
29:18.

I
think this text, like many in the Bible, is sometimes used incorrectly.
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." When we come to read a text
from the Bible, it is always good to see exactly what God is talking about.

I want to use this text from
Proverbs as I believe it has been used in the minds of people down through
the years. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." I think
that it speaks of another kind of vision-a work of God in the hearts of men
and women. That is of tremendous importance.

When you speak of visions,
there should be a word of caution. Sometimes people think that they have
messages from God, when, I am sure, sincere though they may be, they have
not heard from the Lord. I think because sometimes the Lord's people eat too
much too late at night, they have some wild dream and the next day lay it on
God.

I. We Need to
Have a Vision of Lost Souls

I do not think that there has
ever been an hour in the history of the church when the people of God needed
to have a vision of souls that are lost like that vision is needed in this
day and hour. You listen to the conversation of Christians, and you listen
to the preaching of preachers, and you are bound to come to the conclusion
that the church today, the modern-day church, yes, even the fundamental,
Bible believing church of this hour, does not have a vision of souls that
are lost.

God gave that vision to Paul.
Acts 16 is one of the most dramatic chapters in the Bible. Things happened.
People were saved. Families were baptized. Cities were stirred. Earthquakes
happened. Prayers were answered. Jails were destroyed. And the work of God
went on. Chapter 16 of the book of Acts is a great chapter.

In that chapter, inverse 9, I
read, "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of
Macedonia, and prayed
him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help
us." We need to see what Paul saw that night. When God brought a man to
stand before Paul, he heard that night that man say, "Come, help us." That
is a vision every Christian needs to see. We need to hear the cry of the
lost souls of this world, still crying after two thousand years, "Come, help
us." That is the cry of lost humanity.

We need a vision like
Livingstone had when he went to that dark continent of
Africa . In his day some had never seen the face of a
white man. They said, "We never knew we were black because we never had seen
a man who was white until David Livingstone came." All the years of his
fruitful life, he walked among them. He braved the rigors of that land, the
diseases that racked his body, the fever that almost killed him. He loved
them to God until thousands were saved. They found him dead in the little
pup tent, kneeling at his cot, praying, "O God, give me
Africa !"-a prayer he always prayed. He died,
literally, on his knees.

They lifted his body and sent
it back to
England, to be buried in
Westminster Abbey. In the middle aisle where kings and important people of
history are buried, lies the body of David Livingstone. The natives said,
"His body belongs to
Englandbut his heart belongs to
Africa . Leave it here." So his heart was taken from
his body and buried in the soil of
Africa . That was where his heart was.

II. We Need a
Vision of the Judgment Seat of Christ

When people talk about
judgment, usually Christian people, they think of a Great White Throne
judgment, when people are lost and stand before a holy God and the books are
opened and the names are read and they are then assigned to the lake of fire
forever. But there is another judgment in the Bible never mentioned very
much and that judgment is not for sinners but for saints. It is called the
judgment seat of Christ. Paul often spoke of it. Romans
14:10 says, "for we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ." My Christian brother and sister, may God grip your heart
with the truth that every believer will stand before the judgment seat of
Christ.

You say, "What is that
judgment all about?" It is not to determine whether you are saved. That is
as settled right now as it will ever be. If you are God's child, it will
never come into question whether you are a Christian or not. Then God will
not deal with you as a sinner; He will deal with you as a son. At the
judgment seat of Christ, God will deal with His children. That is why Paul
says in Romans 14:12, "So then every one of us shall give account of himself
to God." I wish the Holy Spirit would take that verse and burn it indelibly
into our hearts. So then every one of us shall give an account to God.

In II Corinthians
5:10 we read, "For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ," but I think the verse before
that has something important to say about it. Verse 9 says, "Wherefore we
labour, that, whether presentor absent, we may be accepted of him." I am
told that this is translated, "Therefore we labour that we may be well
pleasing to him." Then God's Word says, "For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ."

Do you please the Lord? That
will be the thing at the judgment seat of Christ. We need a vision of the
judgment seat of Christ. I don't think many people are thinking about it. I
don't think many saved people ever think of the judgment seat when a man's
works shall be placed there. A Christian's work, his life, shall be placed
there, tried and examined. God's Word says, ".saved; yet so as by fire."
The wood and the hay and the stubble will be burned up and only the real
thing will stand the test of the judgment seat.

III. We Need a
Vision of the Horrors of Hell

Third, Christians need to see
a picture of what Hell is like. Christians today act like they do not
believe that sinners are going to Hell. Unsaved people do not act like they
believe that at the end of a Christless life there is an eternal Hell. I
believe with all my heart that we need a vision of the horrors of Hell. The
Bible says so much about it, yet people think so little about it.

I could take the Bible and
show you that when Jesus talked about Hell, He never talked about it as much
to the unsaved as He did to the people of God or at least to Christian
people. I believe when Christians have a vision of the horrors of Hell and
what the Bible teaches about it, it will make them the right kind of
Christians.

I heard an old-fashioned
preacher say one time, "If we had more preaching of Hell from the pulpit, we
would have less living like Hell in the pews." I believe we need in
America, and we need in
fundamental churches, a crusade of old-fashioned, red-hot Bible preaching on
the horrors of Hell. It would get people saved and wake them up and make
soul winners out of the people of God.

I never will forget an
experience I had that made me appreciate being saved. Some years ago we were
visiting in a little town called Puteoli in
Italy, where Paul came in on
his way into
Rome. While we were there someone said,
"While you are here, you ought to go up into the mountains and visit some
lava pools." We went into the mountains near this little Italian town and
there was what was called "Little Sulphatara." There was boiling hot lava
coming up out of the earth. There were barricades all around it and the
guides kept cautioning people. We watched this lava keep boiling up out of
the earth. The guide said, "That's 800 degrees Fahrenheit. If one of you
were to fall in this pool of molten lava, we would never find the wrist
watch from your arm or the buttons from your clothing. You would be
immediately destroyed."

I stood there watching this
boiling out of the bowels of the earth and I thought on all the teaching of
the Bible about Hell, the home of the unsaved, separated from God, eternally
tormented. You know, it is an undesirable subject, but it is a Bible
subject.

We need a vision of Hell. I
think if you, Christian friend with loved ones who are lost, could see them
dancing and burning in the fires of the infernal and eternal Hell, surely
that would move your heart. Think of your neighbors, your lost family, lost
without God and in Hell. Surely we need a vision of what it means for lost
souls to go to Hell.

IV. We Need a
Vision of the Church and Its Importance

Who is in that church? People
who are born again. The people of God. Jesus said in John 3:5,7, "Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the
kingdom of
God. . Marvel not that I said
unto thee, Ye must be born again." Born-again people, bloodshed,
Spirit-indwelt, born-again people make up the body of Christ-the bride of
Christ.

What is the purpose of it? I
talked to a man in my home the other night who said, "l am a Christian but
have never joined a church and never expect to. There are too many imperfect
people in it." Such people take the
church of
Jesus Christtoo lightly. I think
the purpose of the church is to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In
Mark
16:15 Jesus gave the church's purpose: "And he
said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature."

Why do I need this body of
people that is made up of born-again people, whose purpose is to take the
Gospel to the ends of the earth? The Word of God answers that in Acts 20:28:
".feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."
In the
church of
Godyou are fed spiritual food.
You cannot get spiritual food anywhere else. You say, "Well, I can stay home
and read my Bible." Yes, but Jesus said where two or three are gathered
together, He is in the midst of them. The Word of God speaks of them who
speak often one with another. God says a book of remembrances is made of
those who meet together and speak in His name. The Word of God says, "Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" (Hebrews
10:25 ).

I don't believe that there is
any such thing as a Christian not needing the church of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It is where you are fed; it is where you have fellowship; it is
where you grow; it is the base of your operation of service for the Lord.

The Bible says in Acts
2:41 , "Then they that gladly
received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them
about three thousand souls." So people got saved in the Bible and there
were additions to the church. They joined the church. I have always felt
that there is something wrong with a Christian, if he really is saved, who
won't join a Bible believing church. He is not scriptural. They were added
to the church. "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be
saved" (Acts
2:47 ).

V. We Need a
Vision of Jesus, Himself

In closing, I believe that we
need a vision of Jesus, Himself. Oh, lovely, wonderful Jesus! One day a
group of people came to the disciples and said, "Sir, we would see Jesus"
(John
12:21 ). That ought to be the
heart cry of every believer-"Sir, we would see Jesus."

A wonderful experience took
place at the Transfiguration when upon that little mountain Jesus took
Peter, James and John. While on that mountain two men from Heaven came,
Moses and Elias. There was Jesus and five men-six people on that Mount of
Transfiguration. Simon Peter got so enthused that he began speaking without
thinking. He said, "Let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and
one for Moses, and one for Elias." God wasn't pleased with that. So we
read that after a while when the clouds went back and these two men went
back to Heaven, "When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man,
save Jesus only" (Matthew 17:8).

The Lord wants us to have a
picture of God's dear Son. I see that picture of Him in the Bible. I thank
God that I see that picture of Jesus in genuinely saved people. I know
people who love the Lord so much and walk so close to Him. When I see them,
I think of Jesus. I see Christ in people who really love the Lord. Hebrews
2:9 says, "But we see Jesus." We need a vision of the Lord. We need to see
Him and love Him and serve Him with all our hearts.

"Where there is no vision, the
people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. " —Proverbs 29:18.

"In flaming fire
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ." —2nd Thessalonians 1:8